Soyuz aces first Geostationary Mission from French Guiana with new all-European SmallGEO Satellite

A Russian Soyuz rocket lit up the night over the edge of the Amazon Friday night, embarking on its first-every Geostationary Transfer Orbit mission out of French Guiana, requiring the maximum possible performance out of the Soyuz ST-B rocket and Fregat-MT upper stage.

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Photos: Soyuz blasts off on rare Geostationary Mission

A Russian Soyuz rocket lit up the night over the edge of the Amazon on Friday, embarking on its first-ever Geostationary Transfer Orbit mission out of French Guiana, requiring the maximum possible performance of the Soyuz ST-B rocket and Fregat-MT upper stage.

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Soyuz Rocket Counts Down to first Geostationary Launch from French Guiana with new SmallGEO Sat

A Russian-built Soyuz rocket is counting down to liftoff from its equatorial launch pad at the Guiana Space Center Friday night on the rocket’s first-ever Geostationary Transfer Orbit mission from French Guiana.

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Japanese H-IIA Rocket Launches DSN-2 Military Communications Satellite

Japan’s H-IIA rocket lifted off from the picturesque Tanegashima Space Center on Tuesday, successfully carrying the DSN-2 military communications satellite into orbit to upgrade the secure X-Band communications system used by the government and armed forces.

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State of the Art Weather Satellite delivers impressive First Light Images

NOAA’s recently-launched GOES-16 weather satellite sent back its first images of Earth, providing a taste of what’s to come once the state-of-the-art satellite enters service later this year to deliver data at unprecedented resolution and revisit time to scientists, meteorologists and weather enthusiasts.

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Atlas V lifts Crucial Missile Warning Satellite to Orbit in Successful Year-Opening Launch

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket thundered off from Cape Canaveral Friday night, carrying into orbit a crucial missile warning satellite for the U.S. defense forces to keep watch over potentially dangerous missile launches affecting the U.S. homeland and forces stationed abroad.

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Video: Atlas V climbs into Orbit with SBIRS Missile Warning Satellite

A United Launch Alliance launched from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 0:42 UTC on January 21, 2017 on a mission to deliver the 1.2-billion SBIRS-GEO 3 satellite to Geostationary Transfer Orbit to join the U.S. Air Force Space-Based Infrared System.

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China’s Quantum Communications Trailblazer declared Operational after Stellar Performance

China’s Quantum Science Satellite was declared operational this week after five months of in-orbit testing, now set for a busy two-year mission demonstrating hack-proof communications by means of entangled photons as a trailblazer for what is widely considered the communications technology of the future.

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NASA considers ISS Crew Expansion in 2017/18, Looks into Options for Soyuz Seats in 2019

NASA is looking to temporarily increase the American crew contingent aboard the International Space Station from three to four as soon as September by purchasing seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft given to Boeing in the dismantling of the failed Sea Launch endeavor.

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Atlas V grounded by Technical Snag, fouled Range – Next Launch Attempt Friday Night

ULA’s Atlas V rocket stood fully fueled atop its Cape Canaveral launch pad Thursday night, but was grounded late in its countdown due to a technical issue holding up the planned liftoff with a $1.2 billion missile warning satellite and a wayward aircraft causing a violation on the Eastern Range in the day’s last attempt to get the workhorse launcher off the ground.

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